Employees of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) who are agitating for the past 20 days demanding the Government payment of salaries through Treasury Department, have decided to go on an indefinite strike from April 9.
The employees and workers had resorted to lunch-hour protests and observed relay fasts for the last 16 days under the aegis of VMC Employees and Workers Joint Action Committee (JAC) demanding resolution of their problems.
With Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy not responding positively to their demands, the JAC leaders who met Mr. Reddy at Hyderabad on Monday, decided to intensify the agitation and go on indefinite strike.
As the municipal corporation was not paying salaries regularly and even got delayed for three months, the employees demanded payment of salaries through ‘010 account' from March 7.
The employees and the workers of Ministerial Employees Association, Sanitary Inspectors, Work Inspectors, Attenders, Bill Collectors, Vehicle Depot, Streetlight and Drainage Workers and other associations in VMC took out rallies.
They observed tool down and pen down strike and expressed their protest over irregular pay of salaries.
Speaking to the newsmen here on Tuesday, JAC convenor D. Eshwar said that the government was not ready to concede the demands of the employees.
Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy said that it was not possible to pay salaries through Treasury Department and that the local bodies should bear the salaries as per the JNNURM norms.
“JNNURM Scheme has become a curse for the employees. If the Government pays salaries through Treasury Department, it would be Rs.50-crore additional burden to the government per annum. But, the Government is not in favour of the staff,” said the JAC co-convenor J. James.
The employees will also go on one-day token strike on April 2.
If the Government fails to respond to the strike, all the 4,000 employees and workers will go on indefinite strike from April 9, said another JAC leader, M. David.
